Dream A Little Dream
by VampedVixen
Summary: While attending a wedding reception, Wesley tells Fred something he's been keeping to himself. (Post-NFA)


Dream A Little Dream  
Wes/Fred

Thanks to the Beta-ing done by PJ and Rach!

"Why are we here again?" Fred fidgeted at the table, watching the reception. 

It had been a beautiful wedding, the kind she dreamed of when she was a little girl, all ribbons and bows. Surprisingly, Kate had worn a very frilly dress, stating that it was the one day where her hard-nosed cop lifestyle wouldn't prevent her from dressing up and being girly. Still, despite the remarkable pageantry of the day, it wasn't like Kate or Lindsey were very good friends with anyone at Angel Investigations. There was bad blood between them. Even Fred, who had been with the company ever since returning from the hell dimension known as Pylea a year ago, knew they'd been invited for more than a social reason.  
  
"Simply put," Wesley began as he looked out over the crowd. They'd been seated in the back, near the doors, just in case uninvited guests crashed the party. "Both Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have a lot of enemies, and not all of them are the human variety. Kate hired us to keep an eye on the festivities, make sure no one messes up her celebration."  
  
"Yes, but why us, Wes?" Fred asked. She had never called him Wes before, or maybe she had, he couldn't quite remember. Everything was a little fuzzy today, it was most likely the bottle of champagne they had consumed. They were supposed to be working, and he chided himself for the slip up. There were always little slip-ups in his life, little mistakes he wanted to do over, things that he would never get a chance to fix. She looked at him, puzzled by his inactivity and halted conversation, "Wes, are you okay? Is your spidey sense all a tingly?"  
  
"No, no, it's quite all right. I'm simply enjoying the moment with you." He cast a smile in her direction, and she felt lucky to have him by her side. Forever and always, though that wasn't certain. None of it could be certain. She hoped they would have more time to figure it out, but she also knew that time on earth was so very short. Life was over before you knew it. You could be sucked up into a hell dimension, or worse, and not even know it until it had happened. Until it was too late to change anything.  
  
"They certainly seem to be having fun."Wesley gestured towards the bride and groom, an unlikely couple if ever there was one. The bride was a detective who had just worked to get herself back into the police force after being dismissed. It had not been her fault; Angel had just dragged her along on too many wild goose chases. She'd descended into hell with him, only coming back up for air after he had his epiphany. They were linked, the vampire and this detective, even if it was only subconsciously and peripherally. The groom on the other hand, was a lawyer who believed his inherent moral goodness and conscious were stumbling blocks on the way to being a truly evil lawyer, to being who he thought he should be, what would bring him power and fame.  
  
Fortunately, love had changed their courses, forever altering them.  
  
Kate had met Lindsey one fateful day on a routine arrest. Just back into her police uniform, she'd been forced by her Sergeant into doing the most banal of police work, traffic cop duty. Though it was by doing this work that she came across Lindsey. He'd been speeding down the highway, doing ninety in his beat-up truck, almost causing a collision with oncoming traffic as he sped out into the other lane. He'd been upset about Darla, but luckily enough they both saw the light and felt the love. That is, after she took him down to the city jail.  
  
"Yes, they look lovely," Fred answered him. She smiled as the groom cut the three-tiered wedding cake and then proceeded to feed the bride, by shoving the whole piece into her mouth at once. The bride then retaliated by scooping up a finger full of whipped cream and putting a dollop of it on his nose. Some traditions never died.  
  
If only people were like that, never dying. Never growing old.  
  
"You never answered my question, Wes," Fred told him, a little annoyed that he had evaded her the last time she'd brought it up. A waiter brought her a piece of the wedding cake, and the girl pushed it away. It looked appetizing enough, but there were bigger things at work there. Something was up. They would have never been invited to the wedding normally. "Why are we here, Wes? I know you know something that you're not telling me. I need to know."  
  
Wesley ignored her question again, hoping she would not ask it again. There were things that she would not understand, things that he had been keeping from her. Seeing how pale and thin the young girl looked, he nodded towards the cake that sat before her. "You should eat. You'll get sick if you don't eat."  
  
"I don't need to eat," Fred replied, more venomously than she had planned. It was strange, for the first time since she had returned from Pylea she didn't feel the need to eat whatever was put in front of her. She didn't feel the need to horde tacos in her room. The nightly cravings for waffles had ceased too. She felt whole, sustained by the endless questions that ran through her head. "Wesley, please, if you know something that I don't, please tell me. I'm getting confused. Why are we here, really?"  
  
"Because.." His voice faded, growing softer. The room was lit by only candlelight, giving it a warm glow, beautiful and ethereal. It was the kind of reception he had imagined having with her many times in the past. From the moment he had met her, seen her face down the beast Angel had turned into in Pylea, seen her strength against adversity, he had been in love with her. Sadly, he let out a sigh and let out the truth, "Because we never had a chance to have a wedding."  
  
"What?" She stumbled back in her chair, catching herself just before tipping over. Laughing, Fred shook her head, "I'm sorry. I just never knew that you wanted one. I mean.." Her eyes grew wide, upon the realization that he had finally confessed his love to her. "You really think of me that way?"  
  
"I did," he replied, his voice still low and soft, "when I was alive."  
  
Fred jumped away from him. For a moment, she believed that he was lying, it was some silly joke that he was playing on her. Possibly too much champagne. That had to be it, just a joke. Though, when she looked at him, she noticed he was starring straight-faced back at her. His eyes betrayed the truth of his words, not the lies she hoped he had made up to toy with her. Shaking her head, Fred willed herself not to cry. He'd gone mad, it was the only possibly conclusion she could draw. "Wesley, I don't understand."  
  
"I wanted this when I was alive." He swiveled his head slowly, taking in the sights and sounds. The people laughing, smiling, taking pictures, capturing this moment for posterity. It was a different world here, one that lived only in the imagination, his mind had formed it out of thin air. "It would have been just like this, every place setting, every centerpiece, it's exactly how I wanted it to be. Though at our wedding, our friends were there. Angel, Gunn, Cordelia.. But they're gone now. They're all gone."  
  
"Stop it." Fred stood up angrily, causing some of the guests to turn to look at the commotion she was producing. It didn't matter to her, she waved it off, the shy little Texan she used to be was gone, replaced by someone with fire in her eyes. She'd grown up since she left Pylea. Fred suddenly felt old, so much older than she should have. How many years had it been since she'd been rescued? And how many since she needed rescuing? "Stop it! You're scaring me, Wesley. I don't like it. It's not fair."  
  
"No. It wasn't."  
  
Fred knew what he was referring to, but she would be damned if she was going to stick around and listen to it. Pushing her way through the crowds of guests, she ran for the door with the crystal windows. They looked just like the ones back in Texas, at the church she had gone to when she was a little girl with her parents. How she missed her parents, she wondered if they remembered her. Did they still care about her? Was she still their little girl? Could she go back to their waiting arms, leave this world of darkness and monsters behind?  
  
Her palms slammed into the heavy crystal doors, thrusting them open. The reception behind her was filled with chaotic noise after her uproar, they called out to her but she wouldn't let them reach into her soul, she wouldn't let them get her. That was her power after all. To not let them take her.  
  
Once outside, she was lost. It wasn't the way they had come in, and there was no way out she realized. There was nothing but darkness, an empty void, bottomless and without a sky. Reaching out with her hands into the blackness, she could not see her hand nor could she feel what was out there, if indeed anything was. She turned when she felt him come out through the same doors, he'd followed her. He was always following her, but this time Wesley had caught up to her. "Please, don't tell me, let me pretend it's not real. Just for a little while longer."  
  
"I'm sorry, Fred. We are what we are. What's done cannot be undone."  
  
It was gentle, yet firm, guiding her back. She felt tears falling down her face, she pleaded with him, "I never wanted to die. Don't make me.. Don't make me remember.. I want everything to be just like it was. We can live in Los Angeles again, and work for Angel Investigations, and everything can be just a dream, Wesley." She felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her towards him, comforting her. She punched his chest, sobbing uncontrollably, trying to get away from the truth he was so willing to accept. "It's just a dream.. It's just a.."

"No," he hushed her as she rested her head against his shoulder. Smoothing his hand over her hair, he quieted her sobs, upset that he finally had to break the news to her. It hadn't been easy, but he could not go on lying to her, pretending everything was normal, that they were still alive. "We still have each other, together forever."  
  
They stayed like that for a moment, as the old memories filtered back into her head. Fred knew now, understood that she could not go on running, could not go on hiding. It may have worked in Pylea, but this was one place that she was never going to be able to return from. "Would you do me one favor, Wes?"  
  
"Name it."  
  
"Dance with me." She looked up with hopeful eyes, and he wiped the tears away from them. There were no more tears that needed to be shed. The truth was out, and they would carry on.

Without saying a word, he gave his consent with a small nod of his head, very gentlemanly. He held out an elbow, and when she had threaded her arm through it, lead her back into the party, the one that they should have had once upon a time. They glittered on the dance floor, knowing it was fake, and that the people who danced beside them were but figments of their own collective minds, yet somehow it hardly mattered. Together, they danced, until the end of eternity.  
  
The End.

This was written for the Fred/Wes/Illyria Ficathon on LJ (community name: fresliriafic). My assignment was:

**Up to Two Characters (besides Fred/Illyria and Wesley):** Lindsey, Kate  
**Up to Two Requirements:** a kiss between Kate/Lindsey, a food fight  
**One Restriction:** No Illyria 


End file.
